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President Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod offered the White House's first response to Chicago's rejection by ...

... the International Olympic Committee. The Chicago native defended the president's unsuccessful mission to Copenhagen as a worthwhile effort.

"I am proud of this president for going to make the case for this country," he said on MSNBC. "Anytime you're going to make the case for the United States of America, you're doing the right thing.

Axelrod denied that the president had made a mistake by spending valuable time on a trip to Denmark.

"The fact is that he left at 7 o'clock last night and he'll be back in an hour or two," he said. "I think it was well worth the investment of time, and I have no regrets about that and I know [Obama] doesn't."

On CNN, Axelrod said the biggest loser of the day wasn't Obama.

"Had we not gone we would have been criticized for not going … All he gave up, really, was a bit of sleep," Axelrod said. "It's the world's loss."